Painted lady

Here are a few photos taken recently of a house in the proposed Garden District, which we may have painted. It will take some imagination, but picture it without the homemade wooden fire escape leading down from the third floor. (A wooden fire escape must have been less than confidence-inspiring to the upstairs tenants in this now vacant house.)

Imagine gone also, the satellite dishes, which no doubt beamed many an enthralling evening at the Bolshoi into this home once upon a time. Now it is easier to focus on the architectural details of this once grand single family home (prior to its metamorphosis into a five-plex); for example, the scroll work on the columns and the scalloped shingles mixed with flat board siding.

Finally, imagine a provocative color pallet applied to accentuate the various components of the house so that — most importantly — no one can miss it.

In San Francisco they call these houses “painted ladies.” In San Francisco they can afford to be subtle but in Warren I think we need to go bold or go homeif we want other homeowners in the neighborhood to step up and add some color to the Garden District as well.